Divers Depend on HyOx
Knowing where to seek care in case of a dive injury is part of a comprehensive dive plan. In addition to providing dive physicals to ensure diver safety, HyOx also treats dive injuries with hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
At HyOx, we take dive safety seriously. HyOx is accredited by the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society and serves as be the official dive partner of Georgia Aquarium. We provide dive physicals for recreational and professional scuba divers, and we treat scuba divers when they are injured.
Even when a diver is prepared, sometimes injuries can happen. The most common dive injury treated at HyOx is decompression sickness or “The Bends.” Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (“HBOT”) has been the primary treatment for decompression sickness since at least the 1940s when the U.S. Navy began using it to treat divers.
Decompression illness is caused when pressure changes too quickly and nitrogen gas bubbles form in a diver’s blood vessels and tissues. The bubbles disrupt blood flow and cause problems ranging from joint pain to paralysis. Common symptoms include joint and muscle pain, swelling, skin lesions, respiratory problems, and abdominal pain. These symptoms usually begin within 30 minutes after a dive, but they can take up to 12 hours to appear. Decompression sickness is called, “The Bends,” because the diver bends over in pain.
Complications from decompression sickness can impact organ function and be life-threatening. If you or a fellow diver experiences any symptoms of the bends, seek immediate medical attention. Err on the side of caution. The earlier a diver receives HBOT, the better the outcome. When treatment occurs early, most divers make a full recovery. Scuba divers benefit from hyperbaric oxygen therapy by its ability to reduce bubble size, saturate tissues with oxygen, reduce swelling in the central nervous system, increase the diffusion gradient for inert gas from the bubble into the surrounding tissue, and oxygenize ischemic tissue.
Watch as Jonathan Langham, DSO, Georgia Aquarium’s Manager of Dive Safety & Training, explains why divers depend on HyOx.
Video transcription:
We like dealing with HyOx. I mean – look behind us. We’ve got a chamber that in Atlanta that if for some reason our divers do get injured, we can rely on HyOx to make sure that our divers are taken care of to treat those diving injuries.